April 28: GOD DOESN'T WANT ANYTHING FROM YOU…

Affirmation: I am imperfect & I am enough.

I learned this from reading Brené Brown. It is foundational to living a Wholehearted life. Be courageous, compassionate and connected.

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Ponder, Personalize: These 3 verses, 1Thessalonians 5:16-18, are actually one full sentence. Let’s ponder and personalize it one verse at a time. Today: “Rejoice always.”  Ponder these two words and think about how they will impact you each day. Today, rejoice always and take note of how it impacts you.

16 ”Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.“                ‭‭1 Thessalonians‬ ‭5‬:‭16‬-‭18‬ ‭

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Wholehearted Guidepost from Brené Brown 

Cultivate Play and Rest, Calm and Stillness. 

Design your environment to help you build the habit of playing, resting, and to find calm & stillness.

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Mastering the 7 Decisions from Andy Andrews 

The Joyful Decision 

5. TODAY I WILL CHOOSE TO BE HAPPY.

Happiness is a choice. I am enthusiastic about each day. I am alert to its possibilities.

I will become the master of my emotions.

I will greet each day with laughter. I know that enthusiasm is the fuel that moves the world.

The world belongs to the enthusiastic, for people will follow them anywhere! My smile has become my calling card. It is, after all, the most important weapon I possess. I am the possessor of a grateful spirit. 

Joyful Decision

Today, I choose to be happy.

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Romans 12:12

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God concerning you in Christ Jesus. 1Thessalonians 5:16-18

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Reading for Today

Walk in Grace. Live in Love. by Bob Goff

April 28

GOD DOESN'T WANT ANYTHING FROM YOU BECAUSE EVERYTHING YOU HAVE IS ALREADY HIS. BE GRATEFUL.

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together_ 

COLOSSIANS 1:17 

Parents save their kids' lives at least once a week until they're teenagers. They keep them from running into streets after the basketball that got away from them. They pull their hands away from the hot stove top. They invest in float­ies and driver's education classes and bicycle helmets. 

 

I think God has been like our parents in the ways He's sustained us. It hasn't always been obvious to us because He's done it so consistently for so long we just assume that's how the world works. We can live our lives believing we've provided for ourselves through hard work and personal sacrifices. But this is only because we haven't seen the ways He's guided us toward life when we went bounding toward danger. We didn't see Him behind the person who stepped in to take our hand when we were on the verge of giving up altogether. It's easy to forget He breathed life into us in the first place, and He holds us together when we would have otherwise fallen apart. 

At every point, whether we've known it or not, God has protected us and sustained us. Our good behavior didn't earn it, and our failures haven't ruined it. When we get puffed up with pride about what we’ve accomplished, let's stop for a moment and give credit where it's due. If you are financially secure, that's God's provision. If you're fit as a fiddle, that's God's mercy. If your marriage is thriving, that's God's love. We wake up to new days, we take our next breath, we dream some dreams because of God's grace. We did nothing to earn any of this. 

God doesn't want anything from you, because everything you have is already His. If you want to dazzle Him, give Him thanks by sharing what you've been given. Freely, with gratitude. No strings attached. 

Looking back on the last week, how has God been sustaining you?